It was clearly daytime, yet the corridors outside the rooms in Living Person Apartment were pitch-black. Walking through them felt like walking inside a gigantic coffin.
The boy named Jiangyang had silver hair and wore a black jacket. Whenever he looked at someone, his eyes stayed half-lidded, as if he could barely keep them open.
After Shata and Yusheng left, Jiangyang stayed behind to help Gao Tian choose a room:
"You can choose between the second and third floors, but most residents pick the second floor because it's too close to the Fourth Floor. Even though ghosts can't come down from the Fourth Floor, not many people want those evil spirits living right above their heads."
Gao Tian remembered Yusheng saying that the Little Girl had gone upstairs because she'd heard her "family" on the Fourth Floor calling to her.
He asked:
"If you live on the third floor, can you sometimes hear the residents on the Fourth Floor muttering?
"If ghosts can exploit certain patterns to make third-floor residents who hear them wander up to the Fourth Floor in a daze?"
Jiangyang, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.
He turned and glanced at Gao Tian.
"Three of us—the apartment managers, me, Shata, and Yusheng—all live on the third floor.
"Sometimes, during the day, Shata and Yusheng say they hear noises from the Fourth Floor. Footsteps, and people talking.
"Maybe I sleep like the dead, because I've never heard a thing.
"No one's ever been lured up to the Fourth Floor. The apartment's rules are absolute. The abilities of any ghost on the Fourth Floor have no effect on residents of the third floor.
"Rooms on the second floor are hard to get. If you want one, you should go down now. Otherwise, if a new resident picks one first, you'll have to live on the third floor."
Jiangyang had assumed that after hearing about the strange occurrences on the third floor, Gao Tian would choose the second floor without hesitation. But after thinking for a moment, Gao Tian declined Jiangyang's kind offer:
"I think I'll stay on the third floor.
"If Living Person Apartment can guarantee that this floor is absolutely safe too, then I'd be very interested in hearing what the 'residents' on the Fourth Floor say in the middle of the night."
In the end, Gao Tian chose Room 313. After handing him the key, Jiangyang grinned at him, gave him a few words of advice, and left the third floor.
The rooms in the apartment were quite spacious. There was a single bedroom, a living room, an open-plan kitchen, a bathroom with separate wet and dry areas, and a fully enclosed balcony—in short, everything Gao Tian's own apartment building lacked. The fridge was packed with food, and the cupboards were stocked with new toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, and all the other necessities.
Gao Tian walked over to the bed. A pure black, rigid card had appeared on the bedside table. It felt smooth in his hand, a little like a VIP card, though he had no idea what it was made of.
The back of the Black Card bore only two small white characters: "Gao Tian," deeply engraved into it. There was nothing else.
This was the reward Shata had mentioned: the Black Card, given to those who had visited the Fourth Floor.
Gao Tian lay down on the soft bed. A heavy wave of sleepiness swept over him.
He'd faced two Supernatural Events in succession, through the night and into the day. When he was confronting those evil spirits, he'd been so tense and alert that he hadn't felt the slightest bit tired. But once he knew it was all over and his surroundings were safe, his highly strung nerves finally began to relax, and he couldn't hold on any longer.
Gao Tian was only human, after all. He still needed proper sleep and rest.
Soon, he fell asleep on the bed like a log, without even taking off his shoes.
By the time he woke again, it was around five or six in the afternoon.
The sky outside the window had grown a little dim.
What woke Gao Tian wasn't just his body clock. His phone kept pinging with incoming messages.
Someone was sending messages.
Gao Tian woke fully in an instant. Without hesitation, he picked up his phone and checked.
What worried him most was that another ghost might start talking in the Jialan Society group. There were dozens of ghosts in that chat, and he was the only Living Person among them. There was also a Ghost Cave with an absurdly keen intuition. At any moment, it might pinpoint him and expose him.
This time, he'd even claimed the Black Packet from the Ghost Cave and had barely made it through alive. He didn't know whether he could escape trouble for now and put the Ghost Cave's suspicions to rest.
With a nervous feeling, Gao Tian opened the Chat Group.
[Ghost Infant]:
Hey, hey, hey.
@Ghost Cave
A day and a night have passed. Why has no one died yet?
After all, everyone here followed your instructions and claimed the Black Packet.
Where's the Living Person?
[Living Person Apartment]:
There are only ghosts in the Chat Group. No Living Person has joined.
I personally checked every user who applied to join the Chat Group. If any of them had been a Living Person, I would have rejected them already.
[Ghost Infant]:
Hahahaha. This is killing me.
Turns out this guy spent all night trying to outsmart thin air.
[Ghost Cave]:
It's true. A whole night has passed, and not one person has died.
Could I really have been overthinking it? Is everything in this Chat Group normal?
[Ghost Infant]:
Of course it is, you idiot.
[Ghost Cave]:
But I still feel like something's wrong.
No, the Living Person is still alive.
Believe me.
I can sense him. Right now, he's watching our conversation. He hasn't said a word. Maybe he's even gloating inside, laughing at us for being a bunch of fools.
Something must be wrong. Let me think. Where's the flaw?
[Living Person Apartment]:
That's enough.
We have plenty of other things to do. We didn't create this Chat Group so you could indulge your obsession with catching spies.
[Ghost Infant]:
Exactly.
After being mocked by everyone, the Ghost Cave stopped talking. It seemed to have given up.
That crisis had finally passed, more or less.
After a long silence, the Ghost Cave finally sent another message.
[Ghost Cave]:
All right, maybe I really was wrong this time. There's no so-called Living Person in the group. Sorry for wasting everyone's time.
But these are unusual times, so it's better to be cautious.
The group owner, "Living Person Apartment," sent a Black Packet.
[Ghost Infant]:
What's this? @Living Person Apartment
Boss, why did you suddenly send a Black Packet without saying a word?
[Living Person Apartment]:
Don't claim this Black Packet unless you're prepared to do something for me.
@everyone
My corpse is still in Sapphire Mall, and the pot is at my Old Home.
If no one takes care of the corpse, it'll soon undergo Corpse Transformation. It might even go to my Old Home looking for the pot.
[Ghost Infant]:
Why worry about such a trivial matter?
Let the corpse in Sapphire Mall undergo Corpse Transformation. If it wants to go to your Old Home and take the pot, let it.
We don't have much time left anyway. In a few decades, everything will be over.
[Living Person Apartment]:
No. My corpse has to be dealt with.
I died rather suddenly back then, so I had to make hasty arrangements before I died. I hid it using a special method in that crowded mall for two years without anyone finding it. That was a miracle in itself.
I'm just worried that someone from that apartment back then might still be alive. If they recognize my true identity from my corpse and follow it to the pot at my Old Home, it'll be a problem.
[Ghost Infant]:
What are the odds of that happening?
Didn't you say no one besides you made it out of that apartment alive?
[Living Person Apartment]:
Even a small possibility needs to be nipped in the bud. There's still some time before everything ends.
[Ghost Infant]:
What a shame. After claiming your Black Packet, how long do we have to complete the task?
My body's been lying in a deep lake lately, so I can't get to Shanghai City right away. If I take on the task, it'll be at least a month before I can make it there.
[Living Person Apartment]:
That won't do.
The sooner, the better. Ideally, you should leave tomorrow and deal with the corpse I left behind in Sapphire Mall as soon as possible.
The best way to deal with it would be to use the main weapon I wielded in life and drive it into the corpse. If it senses a familiar presence, that should seal it away for a while longer.
[Ghost Cave]:
Brother Yuan.
You're willing to send out something as important as the item your Teacher left you as a Black Packet, just to deal with that corpse you left in the Human World?
(When Gao Tian saw the words "Brother Yuan," his pupils shrank to pinpoints in surprise.)
[Living Person Apartment]:
It's not that important. My Teacher spent fifty years without uncovering the secrets hidden within this Supernatural Item. My knowledge and experience aren't even a tenth of my Teacher's. I could spend a hundred years and still never figure it out.
As long as its secret remains undiscovered, this spear is nothing but a piece of junk.
[Burning Death Ghost]:
I might have some time in a week.
Old man, where in the mall did you leave your corpse? Once I find it, do I just stick your main weapon into it?
[Living Person Apartment]:
Ghost Cave, do you have any free time over the next few days?
[Ghost Cave]:
I do have some time...
I've been feeling lazy lately, and Shanghai City is too far away. I don't really feel like going.
The main problem is that my body's badly decomposed. Whenever I move, bits of flesh keep dropping off me. I can't take human transportation along the way, so walking all the way to Shanghai City isn't very practical either.
[Burning Death Ghost]:
Hey!
Hey!
[Living Person Apartment]:
If we can't find anyone for now, forget it.
I should be able to move around for a while in about a week. I'll go myself then.
From this exchange, Gao Tian could tell that Living Person Apartment's real name contained the character Yuan. Xu Yuan also had Yuan in his name. What's more, both of them had been to Living Person Apartment, and both had left alive. Explaining all of that as coincidence would be a bit of a stretch.
Gao Tian was 99% certain that Living Person Apartment's real name was Xu Yuan.
Also, seeing that no one in the Chat Group dared to claim the Black Packet from Living Person Apartment made Gao Tian's fingers itch.
What exactly was in the Black Packet that Living Person Apartment had sent out to get the other ghosts to help with his task?
But Gao Tian wasn't reckless enough to claim the Black Packet in front of all those ghosts. Living Person Apartment had said that whoever accepted it would have to help him complete the task.
Suddenly, a rather rash, even crazy idea came to Gao Tian:
Why not?
He wanted to investigate the truth about Xu Yuan (Living Person Apartment), and now Xu Yuan's corpse was right in front of him. Could there be a better opportunity?
Besides, he was staying in Living Person Apartment. Even if the worst happened and the Ghost Cave found him, what could they do to him?
And what were the main weapon and the pot they'd been talking about?
Gao Tian stared at the Chat Group's messages and fell silent. The balance in his mind was slowly tipping toward taking action, but his cautious nature kept him from making a move.
While he was still weighing the pros and cons, someone knocked on his door.
"Are you there?"
Before you continue